Top 10 Butterfly Host Plants

Ready to take butterfly gardening to the next level? Plant butterfly host plants to give caterpillars a place to grow!

By Kirsten Sweet

Nectar plants give butterfly gardens a powerful boost. But they’re not the only key to drawing pretty pollinators to your yard. As your favorite winged beauties transition through their life cycle, many lay eggs on the undersides of specific plants—hosts. Many people know monarchs need milkweed, but there are many other butterfly host plants you should consider adding to your garden. By incorporating some of these, you’ll attract a wider variety of butterflies to your backyard. And now they just might stick around!

Passionflower (Passiflora), Zones 5 to 9

Passionflower is a perfect butterfly-friendly vine. It climbs 15 to 50 feet and will thrive in full sun or part shade. If you’re starting this beauty from seed or small nursery plants, be prepared to provide support for its tendrils to cling and wind. After that, you won’t need to put in much effort to enjoy the blooms of this climber.

Butterfly benefits: Several fritillary caterpillars mow down on passionflower. A couple of common ones are the gulf fritillary and the variegated fritillary. Zebra longwings also use this butterfly host plant.

Hollyhock (Alcea rosea), Zones 2 to 10

If you want to make an impact in your garden, this tall host plant is an easy choice. It comes in many colors, attracts an array of insects and can reach up to 8 feet in height. Plant hollyhocks in full sun and along a fence or wall for stability.

Butterfly benefits: Painted lady caterpillars rely on several different plants as food sources, including hollyhocks and various spring annuals.

Willow (Salix), Zones 2 to 9

Salix, Zones 2 to 9 It’s true! Caterpillars feed on trees as well as pretty garden plants. Willows are known to grow up to 100 feet depending on species. So most gardeners will want smaller willows, like Dappled or Flame willow, which are a better size for backyard landscapes. Willow trees prefer full sun and tolerate many soil types.

Butterfly benefits: Several caterpillars like to munch on willow trees, including viceroy, western tiger swallowtail and mourning cloak.

Dill (Anethum graveolens), annual

Generally grown for its culinary uses, dill is also an unconventionally attractive garden plant with its feathery, aromatic green leaves and yellow buds. For an herb plant, dill gets quite large, reaching up to 4 feet tall.

Butterfly benefits: If you’re looking to snip some dill for use in your own kitchen, you’ve got to get your hands on it before the black swallowtails chow it down. Anise swallowtails and other caterpillars like dill as well.

Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), Zones 2 to 6

In spring, long bloom clusters appear in a stunning display on the branches of chokecherry trees. Later in the season, the tree produces berries perfect for birds to munch on. This tree grows about 30 feet tall, so be sure to leave plenty of space for this beauty to mature.

Butterfly benefits: A western species, the two-tailed swallowtail caterpillar enjoys feeding on the foliage of the chokecherry tree.

Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus), annual

Mostly grown as an annual or a short-lived perennial in Zones 5 to 9, snapdragons are great for adding height to a landscape. These garden classics’ stalks can reach about 4 feet tall with blooms in a variety of colors: white, pink, purple, orange or red.

Oak (Quercus), Zones 3 to 10

You may know oak trees by the fantastic orange, red and yellow color show they put on every autumn. Mature oaks can reach up to 100 feet high, but you can find smaller varieties, such as pin oak, that grow to about 75 feet—still quite large. So keep in mind that even smaller varieties need plenty of space to grow and flourish.

Butterfly benefits: Young oak leaves are favorites of the caterpillars of Horace’s duskywing and banded hairstreak.

RDA-GID

Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), Zones 3 to 8

Maybe you’re more familiar with this plant by the common name pearly everlasting, but its beauty is the same no matter what you call it. Blooming from midsummer to early fall, this plant boasts small, flat-topped clumps of white flowers reaching about 2 feet tall.

Butterfly benefits: American lady butterflies can be found throughout most of the United States, so plant everlasting to feed those hungry caterpillars.

RDA-GID

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), Zones 4 to 9

This easygoing and versatile grass is a good choice for wet conditions, drought or partial shade, as long as it’s planted in moist, well-draining soil. Growing narrow and upright with a cloud of seed heads in fall, switchgrass can reach more than 5 feet tall. Birds enjoy the seeds while the green leaves turn to yellow in fall.

Butterfly benefits: Many skipper caterpillars need grasses like switchgrass as a food source. These same caterpillars might overwinter on or underneath the blades of grass.

Your – Top 10 Butterfly Host Plants – photographs, are all, very, very, beautiful. You are a master writer and photographer. I love all your nature photographs…….My heart feels the love and beauty, in all your photographs….

While I am opposed to the federal government providing loans, loan guarantees or any other loan ascitsanse,I think it is important to pin the tail on the right donkey and most of the people are blaming the president the real culprit is the congress which authorized the program and appropriated the funding.

Having a record of what you read is a great thing-imagine some bloggers may well one day be able to look back on 50 year old book blogs and see what they read long ago and marvel at their reaction to the works